Organized Labor After the Freeze

Report Outline
Labor Discontent and the 1972 Election
Growth of Labor's Political Activity
Changing Nature of Union Membership
Special Focus

Labor Discontent and the 1972 Election

Reactions of Unions to Wage Freeze and Phase II

Organized labor's agreement to cooperate with the Nixon administration's economic control program defused, at least for the time being, a potentially explosive confrontation between the unions and the Republican Party in the 1972 presidential election. Most labor leaders were quick to denounce the 90-day wage freeze announced by President Nixon on Aug. 15, and their initial reaction to Phase II of the New Economic Policy was equally negative. However, AFL-CIO President George Meany said on Oct. 12 that labor would serve on the tripartite Pay Board that will monitor wage increases during Phase II.

Meany's announcement came after he met with Labor Secretary James D. Hodgson and Director George P. Shultz of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Hodgson and Shultz handed Meany a statement, initialed by Nixon, saying that the administration “will not approve, disapprove or serve as an appeal level for case decisions made by the Pay Board and Price Commission and it will not approve, revise, veto or revoke specific standards or criteria developed by the Pay Board and Price Commission.” That promise of autonomy seemed to remove Meany's previously stated objection that the Pay Board would be subordinate to the Cost of Living Council headed by Treasury Secretary John B. Connally.

Nevertheless, labor support for the President's program was less than wholehearted. The AFL-CIO Executive Council, President Leonard Woodcock of the United Automobile Workers and President Frank E. Fitzsimmons of the Teamsters served notice on Oct. 12 that they would set up units across the country to monitor prices and make sure there are no violations of the administration's price controls. One week earlier, on Oct. 5, United Steelworkers President I. W. Abel delivered a broadside attack on past and present economic policies of the administration. “The worker got it both ways” under the old policy of abjuring controls or even persuasion to hold down wage and price increases, Abel said. “He was hit with both unemployment and inflation, not to mention record interest rates.”